food-and-drink

List

The Curious Origins of 9 Delicious Phrases

1. The Cold Shoulder Believe it or not, there was a time when giving someone the cold shoulder didn't just mean publicly snubbing them, it actually meant handing them a cold shoulder, as in a cold shoulder of beef. During the Middle Ages, the easiest way to hint to guests that they'd overstayed their welcome was to serve them a heaping mound of cold cow parts. A few platters of nothing but shoulder were supposed to drive away even the most persistent of guests. 2. Humble... READ ON

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Question of the Day: Can Spicy Foods Kill You?

I'm learning how to cook, which has been an adventure. The other night, after an encounter with some particularly spicy Italian sausage combined with even spicier barbecue sauce, my roommates and I found ourselves wondering if eating spicy foods could kill you. I mean, it can certainly cause intense pain and chest tightness; so can too much spicy food kill... READ ON

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Ramen Instant Spa?

While I've heard of everything from chocolate body wraps at Hershey Park, to nibble fish treatments in China (which we reported on last week), this is the first I know of a health resort that's tried to recreate the experience of cooking up a bowl of Ramen noodles. According to TheCellar, bathers are expected to find the peppery aromas and brown water (intentionally colored that way to resemble pork broth) comforting. Of course, the Ramen noodle bowl is just one of the many unusual... READ ON

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Fried Coke (and other fried things inspired by Texas)

CNN is reporting that deep fried lattes, fried chili pie, fried banana pudding and fried guacamole are all highlights set to premier at this year's third annual Big Tex Choice Awards contest. The event, which "tests the fair grub ingenuity of State Fair concessionaires," is interesting not just because it's the first time I've seen the word concessionaires, but also because I had no clue people wanted their lattes deep fried. Of course, the really interesting thing is that... READ ON

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In the Can: 6 Canned Foods We're Reluctant to Try

With hurricane season almost upon us, it's time to start stocking up on bottled water, extra batteries and canned food. But why stick to just beans and corn? Here's a look at some more exotic (read: disugusting!) canned foods we... READ ON

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A Dozen Pumpkins

I have twelve orange pumpkins in my garden (and a couple of green ones). I didn't even plan to raise pumpkins this year! We had a bit of a warm spell in February, when I noticed there were some pumpkin sprouts in the compost pile, from the seeds of last year's Jack O'Lantern (which came from our garden). I rescued the sprouts and potted them up, keeping them safe and warm til May, then transplanted them into the garden. With that head start, the pumpkin crop is already beyond my... READ ON

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The Fragrance of Vagrants

Being big fans of soup, soup Nazis and various soup-styled book covers, I couldn't help but post about HoboSoup (for the record, I'm also a fan of hobos). In any case, the find comes from TheSneeze and apparently the stuff is truly delicious. Of course, I'd want to take a far closer look at the ingredients before downing spoonfuls. What's even more curious than the ingredient list to me, though, is how the product came to be. Here's the scoop straight from the can: Hobo... READ ON

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Disgusting Flavors We Never Got a Chance to Love

We're not sure what flavor you like your laxatives, PEZ and tortilla chips, but we're guessing these aren't them. The following are some of the biggest marketing missteps, all done in very bad taste. PEZ that belong in a vase: The truth is, everyone loves the containers. But I, for... READ ON

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Internet Bacon

The prevailing lore is that once you discount spam (which we all try to ignore), 98% of the internet is composed of cats, pornography, MySpace, and bacon. Bacon? Yeah, bacon is all over the internet. I first noticed bacon as a shared motif when John Scalzi taped bacon to his cat. It was on his list of "things to do" and some commenters did not believe he'd do it. The cat was the hottest thing on the internet for a while. He later posted a motivational poster summing up the experience. And... READ ON

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Truth in Fast Food-vertsing

The folks at the West Virginia Surf Report have this great little fast food expose going on (in fact they're not afraid to tell you how great it is... they've dubbed it a "Pulitzer-caliber" study at the bottom of their page!). And while time will only tell if they get their just awards, the idea's pretty clever. Essentially, they're taking beauty shots from fast food advertising, and putting them head to head with the stuff straight out of a store. There's no tampering with the food; just pics of what the... READ ON